In my not so humble opinion gas welding a cast aluminum part requiring structural integrity would be sketchy at best. I've seen gas welding done on a lot on aluminum race car bodies, never seen it attempted on a cast structural member. Wouldn't porosity be a major issue?

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On cast aluminum, I usually weld it with a tig torch.

As part of the preparation, I make the first pass over the parts with the tig torch and no filler.
This will cook the junk out of the cast and float it to the top. It also adds some preheat. I then clean up again for the real weld.

I have seen a few make a first pass with filler and grind it all out because the junk in the cast.
They then start over and make a pass with filler for a weld that is cleaner.

Just a note, I only use wheels made for aluminum because most wheels made for metal are made of aluminum oxide. Exactly what I DON'T want in my welds.

My old welding helmet is an ESAB bought by my dad back when auto helmets were pretty space age stuff, it's getting a bit flaky in the switching, I'll have a look at replacing the battery but am looking at getting a new one. What do I look for in the budget/med $ offerings? Adjustable shade & sensitivity obviously, big lens,anything else?

My old welding helmet is an ESAB bought by my dad back when auto helmets were pretty space age stuff, it's getting a bit flaky in the switching, I'll have a look at replacing the battery but am looking at getting a new one. What do I look for in the budget/med $ offerings? Adjustable shade & sensitivity obviously, big lens,anything else?e

Cheers
Clint

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I ran into the same things a while ago. MrsDonkeys was unwilling to let me buy a Northern Tool special, and insist we take a trip to the welding shop for a proper helmet. It seems she values my eyes a little more than I do.

I don't really "weld". I am a hobbyist, and I do it for fun, and some necessity. I only pull the welder out of the garage a few times a month, so I struggled with spending a lot of money on a helmet. I ended up with the Miller Digital Performance Series. The comfort and larger viewing area have proved to be worth the extra money. I've noticed that I tend to play a little more now I've got something more comfortable on my head, and I get a little less frustrated with visibility issues. I think I walked out for around $200 all said and done. I've been happy with it, and would buy another in a heartbeat.

It came with a cover/bag and allows using diopter lenses. The 1.75x is nice and allows a good view. The second switch time and viewing area is what separates the expensive from not-so-expensive helmets all other features the same (i.e. you are paying for less eye strain and a better view). If I welded much or considered myself a welder, I would upgrade the helmet to a faster switch time. My helmet has a 1/25000 sec (40 microsecond) switch time and a Jackson pro helmet has a 0.15 microsecond time.

This was cut from 24 ga galvanized steel. The galvanizing needs to be etched off before heating, but that's the idea.
I also plan to remove that bit of rubber by the upper tang in the caliper pin hole.

Also, to reiterate, this lower tang has no load. It's the upper tang that takes a reaction force from the brake pad.

Edit: the notion is that this tang, cantilevered off the caliper support, takes the rotating force from the the disc as the brakes are applied. After looking at this bit of cast aluminum, I am not so sure that makes sense. The pad is steel but the aluminum is not gouged from the pad contact. Instead, I am thinking the pin on the back of the pad that fits into a hole in the piston transfers the pad force back into the caliper body. Otherwise, the aluminum would wear away as the steel pad rubs when the brakes are applied.

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My $.02:
O-A and O-H alu welding is still used today, but only for non-structural projects and I've only heard of it being used on sheet alu.

O-H burns at a lower temp (closer to the melting point of alu) so it's easier to manage than O-A when working with alu.

You said you have experience brazing, why don't you braze the piece? You are likely to get much better penetration with less of a chance of warping the tube.

Also, why are there so many people hating on this man's project? If the brake fails he's always got the rear to fall back on (no pun intended ).

I'm to the point in my aluminum melting that I think I could do a lot better job if I had a foot control for my welder. Unfortunately, I see no way to adapt my welder to be able to hook up a foot pedal... So if I were to keep my eyes peeled for a used TIG welder, what would y'all recommend? It needs to be able to weld THIN aluminum, and be on the cheaper side for a TIG welder. Thinking of maybe selling my current set up (keep the tank, regulator, and maybe torch and leads?) and use some tax money to fund a nicer machine.

A quick perusal of KSL and Craigslist show a few used Millers- 180SD, 200 syncrowave, and a few other misc brands, all ranging from between $1,000 to $3,000 depending on what all comes with it.

I originally thought the tangs were structural. Upon more evaluation, I realize the tangs stop the pads from spinning on the disc but do not take the load from stopping the disc. I am still considering the HTS/alumaweld/alumaloy aluminum-zinc path.

If both the upper and lower tang break, the pad will spin but still stay with the caliper and on the disc. There is also the original left side disc brake and the rear brake as mentioned. However, the hydraulics changes will affect the original brakes. So, there is some risk in this mod.

Drum brakes. There is a link from the fork to the backing plate so the shoes don't spin around.

The link broke. The backing plate rotates in the direction to pull the cable tight. I went on my Azz!

Another time on a Yamaha RD350 I ha been working on it. The front axle slid partway out at 50+ mph causing
the rotor to lock up in the caliper from misalignment. I went on my azz. The skid mark was less than 2 feet long from riding
to sliding. Please don't mess with your front brakes.

A while back I posted a request for opinions of some of the newer inverter welders because I was trying to decide between one of those and an old miller 300. yesterday I stole the welder below for $850. It came with 75' of stinger, 75' of ground lead with a heavy cast clamp, a foot pedal with 20' of cord and a Weld craft wp20 torch with 25' of cable, a water recirculation tank and a full argon cylinder with a low flow regulator. Hopefully I will have it off the trailer tomorrow and have a 50 amp outlet for it by the end of the weekend.

For those not familiar this is a Miller 330A/BP and it will put out 465 amps. They were initially made by Airco in the early 1950's and changed very little over the next 30 years. This partuicular welder was purchased new in 1983 and has not been used for the past 10 years. the inside looks nearly new and still has that new car smell.

Drum brakes. There is a link from the fork to the backing plate so the shoes don't spin around.

The link broke. The backing plate rotates in the direction to pull the cable tight. I went on my Azz!

Another time on a Yamaha RD350 I ha been working on it. The front axle slid partway out at 50+ mph causing
the rotor to lock up in the caliper from misalignment. I went on my azz. The skid mark was less than 2 feet long from riding
to sliding. Please don't mess with your front brakes.

:)

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Sure, I see your point. There are used and new right fork lowers with ATE brake castings out there. Aside from the tangs, the fork lower needs to be drilled and reamed for a 20 mm axle. I will think about this some more as it is neither urgent or mandatory.

The 330AB/P is a beast, and cosmetically, at least, yours looks sweet. (Not that there's much you can do to harm those big xformer machines...)

I run a Sync 250 but if I had $850 lying around all lonely and unloved, I'd grab a machine like that in a heartbeat.

Best of luck with it.

(I suspect you already know this, but you'll need a lot more than 50A if you want to run that monster wide-open!)

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No worries about the 50A outlet. The torch I have is only rated for 250A but more importantly what I will be fabricating with will be mostly 1/8" or less mild steel. I opted for the big old beast mostly due to such a low price for a plug and play set up with a water cooled torch.

Yesterday I got the +800lb welder off the trailer and moved into its new home, no easy task but not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I hooked up the regulator to the tank that came with it and it looks like I've got 1,400 psi of argon.